Chapter 14: Test of the Warrior

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“… and that’s basically what happened during the past three years. Ouch! – ” Draygor exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head with a pained look.

Dhi’na had smacked him with her tail as soon as he had finished recounting the events during his disappearance, bar certain gory details. Needless to say, he didn’t tell her about Shaitan’s appearance either. He decided that he would tell Dhi’na, Kha’na and his parents everything – about his previous life, about his relationship with the gods, about his full strength – when the time was right. He didn’t know when that would be, but it certainly wasn’t now.

“I need to find some answers before I do that,” Draygor concluded. Pushing the thought away, he turned his attention back to Dhi’na, who was glaring at him with an extremely fierce expression. It was slightly amusing, since she was usually pretty impassive.

“I think I prefer it when you aren’t as aggressive…” Draygor mused, referring to Dhi’na’s meek behaviour before, when she had been overcome by her emotions.

The statement earned him another smack on the head, as well as a flurry of blows to his sides. While he certainly deserved getting hit for teasing her, Draygor wasn’t going to take it lying down. He reached up and began tickling Dhi’na in retaliation, and soon the both of them were out of breath, his sides hurting from her punches, and hers from laughing.

“Draygor… next time, I’m coming along. I’ll protect you…” Dhi’na said in a soft voice as they lay on the floor of Draygor’s room, catching their breath.

“Alright.” Draygor didn’t plan on doing anything as adventurous as the past three years anytime soon, but when he eventually planned to go searching for answers, he’d be strong enough to take care of her. He didn’t doubt that she’d be strong enough by then to protect him too.

A small giggle interrupted the moment, and they turned to see its source. Little Tah’ra was lying on Kha’na’s lap, hugging a small wooden dagger as she giggled at the sight of her big brother, whose hair and clothing was dishevelled from the small tussle he’d had with Dhi’na. Garick and Lhi’ra had been pushed out for a little ‘alone time’ by Draygor when he had arrived back home with Dhi’na and Kha’na. He felt that they deserved a break for putting up with Tah’ra’s crying the entire day.

“Ah, that’s right! I haven’t given my present to Tah’ra!” the sight of the wooden dagger reminded Draygor of the present he’d gotten for his little sister earlier in the day.

“Here, Tah’ra! I got you a little Draygor! If you ever miss me, just look at this, and if you ever need my help, I’ll be there!” Draygor said enthusiastically as he placed the little look-alike doll into her arms. He didn’t think she understood him just yet, since she’d only hatched the day before, but he meant it with all his heart. He’d remind her again once she learnt to speak.

Draygor had drawn an invisible magickal diagram onto the doll. He was serious when he said that he’d be there for his little sister; the diagram would activate and would send him a signal if Tah’ra was ever in a dire situation. Furthermore, the diagram contained a tracking spell as well, so he’d always be able to find her.

Tah’ra studied the doll for a moment, before giggling out loud, presumably in satisfaction. The girl wrapped her little arms around the doll, adding to the dagger already buried in her embrace. Soon, she was asleep again, everyone else watching her small form with smiles on their faces.

“Draygor?” Dhi’na piped up after a few moments.

“Hmm?”

“Do I get a present too?”

“Ah… about that…” Draygor said, scratching his head sheepishly. “My presence… is your present? Heh… ouch! – ”

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“Draygor! We’ve spoken to the Headmistress of the Academy, and she’s decided to allow your admission as a late student. She’ll test you personally tomorrow, so be up early!” Lhi’ra announced as the Mithras family was gathered for dinner. Dhi’na and her parents were there as well – they would come over for dinner every few days, and Garick was always more than happy to cook a little extra.

It had been nearly a week since Draygor had returned home, and he’d spent every day entertaining his little sister and trying to catch up on recent events. Unsurprisingly, his parents didn’t know much about any trouble in the city. All Lhi’ra knew was that all soldiers had been instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious individuals, and that a few had been caught, but anything more than that was information privy to the higher-ups only.

Draygor had also returned to the toy shop during the week to get another doll for Dhi’na, which he enchanted with the same spells as the one he had given to Tah’ra. It was a good thing enchanting was a relatively easy field of magick to use, allowing him to place extremely advanced enchantments – which were difficult to remove or detect – on the dolls with his current power. The shopkeeper had been his usual condescending self, to no one’s surprise, and didn’t even bring up the offer he’d made previously. As he’d left after playing with the old man’s granddaughter for a while, however, the girl passed on another message from the shopkeeper, telling Draygor to visit again.

“Awesome! Haven’t you been curious how Kha’na taught me to fight, mother? Why don’t you come watch the test tomorrow then, since it’s your day off?” Draygor suggested. Parents were allowed to witness their child’s admission test, and Lhi’ra had been pestering Draygor to show her how much he’d learnt. Of course, Kha’na hadn’t taught him to fight at all, but she was under orders to go along with whatever he said.

“That’s a good idea! I’ll go along with you tomorrow then! Kha’na, you’re coming along too!” Lhi’ra agreed enthusiastically. She wanted to see how much her son had grown, and she was sure he wouldn’t let her down. He was a little genius, after all.

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“Good morning, Mrs Mithras and… this is?” the Headmistress – a female in her late sixties – asked, turning to Kha’na with a quizzical look.

“Ah… this is uhm… Draygor’s aunt! That’s right, Draygor’s aunt, Kha’na,” Lhi’ra said hesitantly, introducing Kha’na to the Headmistress. At her introduction, Kha’na gave a small, polite bow.

“Fantastic. I didn’t think Lukas had another daughter, but that old fellow has always been wild,” the Headmistress said in an amused tone, with a hint of a smirk on her face.

“Y-you know my father?” Lhi’ra blurted in disbelief. Lukas had never told her much about his life when he was younger, and it was as much a surprise to her as it was to Draygor.

“Yes, yes. He and I go way back, but that’s not the main issue now, no? Let’s get to business. I’m Sah’ra, Headmistress of the Academy. That’s Madam Sah’ra to you, Draygor. You are Draygor, am I correct?” Sah’ra asked, clasping her hands together in a dignified pose, and Draygor gave a curt nod in response.

“A quiet one, aren’t we?” Sah’ra mused at Draygor’s wordless response. “No matter, it so happens that I like the quiet ones. Now, follow me, and we’ll proceed with your admission test soon enough. Lukas told me that you have some magickal aptitude as well, but we’ll proceed with that later.”

“Usually, our instructors will spar with the potential students to determine their level of ability for the test to enter the warrior academy. However, I understand that you missed the test because of… special circumstances last year, Draygor. Unfortunately, all our instructors are busy with classes today. Thus, I’ve decided on something a little different. Ah, we’ve arrived.”

Sah’ra had led Draygor and his companions to the training fields, where a class was in the middle of a practical lesson. Dhi’na’s class, to be precise. Draygor was surprised when he saw her, and gave a small wave, which she returned. His arrival had also clearly caught the attention of her classmates, some of whom recognised him from Dhi’na’s outburst the week before.

“Hey, isn’t that the guy…?” A few of the girls asked, and soon, the rest of the class was whispering to one another while giving both Dhi’na and Draygor curious glances.

“Quiet down!” the teacher bellowed. She was immediately rewarded with silence, at which the Headmistress nodded in approval. Discipline was a very important component in their studies, and Sah’ra was pleased to see that the first year students were learning quickly. “Good morning, Headmistress. Is anything the matter?”

“Good morning. Sorry to interrupt your class, but there’s a matter that is of utmost importance. This young man here,” Sah’ra explained, pointing to Draygor, “has yet to be enrolled in the Academy due to special reasons. I’ve heard that your class is the most promising amongst the first years, and if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like a volunteer to spar with him as his admission test.”

The teacher was a little taken aback. This certainly wasn’t normal protocol, and was very much an interruption to her class, but she couldn’t exactly refuse the Headmistress’ request. With a shrug, the teacher turned to ask the class. “Would anyone like to volunteer for the Headmistress’ task?”

A hand, partially covered in dark blue scales, raised. “I will.”

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“Of course it had to be Dhi’na…” Draygor thought. He definitely hadn’t expected something like this as his admission test, though he was looking forward to exchanging a few pointers with his best friend.

“Right. Choose your weapon, boy,” the teacher instructed, and Draygor moved toward the pile of wooden training weapons to take his pick. Of course, he chose a quarterstaff, much to the teacher’s surprise. Staves weren’t the easiest weapon to use.

“Interesting choice, boy. Now, move to stand two metres away Miss Zorshe here. The rest of you, stand back! Don’t exert yourself too much, Miss Zorshe here’s my best student. I’ll step in if things get too heated, so don’t worry about your safety,” she warned as she instructed the other curious students to make some space for their spar.

“Ready?”

At her word, both Dhi’na and Draygor got into their fighting stances. Dhi’na shifted her left foot forward, her shield raised high with her sword held low by her side. On the other hand, Draygor held his weapon in a low guard, with his right foot forward as he gripped the end of the staff with his left hand, and his right gripping the staff a quarter-length away.

“Fight!”

Draygor was the first to spring into action. He dashed forward, staff raised for an overhead swing. With a loud ‘thwack’, he swung the weapon down onto her shield. It didn’t do much admittedly, though the sudden sharp sound did cause a few in the crowd to jump slightly. Without missing a beat, Dhi’na counterattacked, swinging her sword in an attempt to catch him in the side, but Draygor twisted his body slightly and caught the blow with his staff.

Taking a step back, Draygor lunged in with the forward point of the staff. Dhi’na managed to avoid the thrust by pushing it to the side with her sword. Draygor wasn’t thwarted, however, and simply swung the staff around in an arc. It whistled through the air as it flew towards the side of Dhi’na’s head, but she managed to avoid it by ducking in the nick of time. The attack had nearly hit her, and would most certainly have caused a concussion if it had connected, but Draygor had held back his strength. He had anticipated her dodging the swing, but in the case that she failed to avoid it, he would have stayed his hand just before it connected anyway. He wasn’t willing to hurt her, after all.

With her head still held low, Dhi’na rushed forward, thrusting her weapon out in an attempt to stab Draygor, but he flourished his staff and swatted it aside. Spinning his body around, he swung the staff in an arc again, going in for a low sweep this time. Dhi’na clearly wasn’t expecting it; he saw a flicker of surprise run across her face. Despite her surprise, she managed to dodge that by jumping upwards.

“Wow, she’s a natural at this,” Draygor thought. If he hadn’t been convinced by her skill when he saw her spar the week before, he was now. It was time to end it, however.

In a smooth, fluid motion, Draygor pushed the quarterstaff up from between her legs, catching her in the shin, and as soon as the wood came into contact with her leg, he pulled it to the side. Dhi’na had merely been airborne for a split-second when she dodged his sweep, but that split-second had been enough. Being in the air, she had no foothold nor stability, and as a result, the little change in force caused her to tumble onto the ground unceremoniously.

The crowd was silent – well, they had been silent throughout the fight, but it was especially obvious now – except for the sound of the deep breaths being taken by both Draygor and Dhi’na.

“I admit defeat,” Dhi’na said in a soft voice. She hadn’t expected Draygor to be able to beat her, as he’d always lost whenever they wrestled. Clearly he had been going easy on her all those times. It had been a quick spar, but it was the most exciting one she’d had yet.

As soon as Dhi’na had surrendered the victory to him, Draygor immediately moved to helped her up. “You’ve been holding back on me, haven’t you? You’re gonna have to make this up to me, you know?” she whispered into his ear as he did so, and he simply grinned in return. The pair of fighters stood there for a short moment, as everyone stared at them in shock. Even Lhi’ra and their teacher was speechless; this wasn’t a fight one would expect to witness amongst first year students, especially when one of the fighters hadn’t even been accepted into the Academy yet!

Sah’ra was the first to break the silence with applause, and soon everyone else in the class was clapping for the fight they had just witnessed. When the cheering finally died down due to a sharp glare from the teacher, Sah’ra announced Draygor’s victory.

“Well, I daresay you’ll make a fine warrior in the future. I’d consider your results in the test of the warrior to be exceptional. Any objections?” Sah’ra turned to the teacher for her opinion. “None? Fantastic. Now, about the mage test – ”

“I think we can skip that, Madam Sah’ra.”

“… Interesting… We will speak elsewhere about the details. Come, let us talk in my office. Mrs Mithras, the aunt, and Draygor, please… follow me. Please continue with your class, ma’am, and I thank you again for lending your time,” Sah’ra finished her sentence, fixing Draygor with a weird look, before turning to lead the few of them away from the training fields.

“I’ll talk to you later, Dhi’na,” Draygor mouthed as he left with the Headmistress, and he smiled as he saw her give a small nod in response.

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“Dhi’na, who’s that? He’s awesome, just like you!”

A few of Dhi’na’s classmates had come up to her as Draygor left, eager to find out more about him. They were shocked as she replied with a wide grin – it was rare that she smiled, and furthermore, she’d never smiled so happily in front of them before!

“He’s my best friend!”